A Tribune SpecialBringing khaps to justicePoliticians’ fear of losing vote banks is misplaced as khaps
have no following in villages, says D.R. ChaudhryKarnal
Additional Session Judge’s judgement giving death sentence to five
persons, life imprisonment to one and seven years’ jail to another
in a case of honour killing in Haryana’s Kaithal district will serve
as a strong deterrent on the depredations of khap panchayats.

Marketing of sportsKabaddi catches the attention of TV channels
by Prabhjot SinghSince
March and April have traditionally been months for holding school, college and university examinations, hardly any international sports events were organised during this period. But things are changing now, thanks to the powerful influence of television and cable networks.

Elite bias main hurdle in RTE: Shantha SinhaOn Record by Suresh DharurDR Shantha Sinha played a catalytic role in formulating the Right to Education Act. As the first Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), she is all geared up to monitor its implementation on the field.

Surgeon with ‘safest hands’Profile by Harihar SwarupPadma Bhushan Award winner Dr Ramakant Panda is known as “ the man with safest hands”. A specialist in beating heart surgery, Dr Panda has performed over 10,000 bypass surgeries and 800 redo bypass. He is regarded as one of the most prolific surgeons in the world. More importantly, he has done more than 1,500 high-risk surgeries, which have offered new life to many patients who were considered “inoperable”. His failure rate is just 0.5 per cent against the world average of 2 per cent —- in the US, the average is 2 to 3 per cent.

A Tribune SpecialBringing khaps to justicePoliticians’ fear of losing
vote banks is misplaced as khaps have no following in villages, says
D.R. Chaudhry

Karnal
Additional Session Judge’s judgement giving death sentence to five
persons, life imprisonment to one and seven years’ jail to another
in a case of honour killing in Haryana’s Kaithal district will serve
as a strong deterrent on the depredations of khap panchayats.

Illustration: Kuldeep
Dhiman

Honour killing is the most grotesque and barbarous manifestation of gender discrimination in the male-dominated society. In such an ethos, woman is a commodity possessed by the male and the family’s honour is associated with her. If she deviates from social mores, she is supposed to bring dishonour to the family whose prestige is restored by killing her. If her male partner too meets a similar fate, it is only a collateral damage unavoidable in given circumstances as it happened with Manoj who married Babli, a girl of his own village, in the present case.

The practice of honour killing is prevalent in a feudal set up with tribal hangover — Haryana, Delhi dehat, western Uttar Pradesh and Punjab and some areas in Rajasthan near Delhi and in Islamic countries. About 300 women are killed every year in Pakistan and the corresponding figure in Bangladesh is more than 200.

Yemen, a small country, had about 400 cases of honour killing in 1997. According to one estimate, about 10 per cent of murders in Punjab and Haryana falls in the category of honour killing.

The institution of khap panchayat, largely prevailing in areas around Delhi is the site where honour killing is executed to perpetuate gender discrimination in its most revolting form. It is a medieval institution when people were divided into clans. Its primary aim was to provide security to its members in an age marked by lawlessness and to settle disputes among its members.

The khap panchayat is either gotra-centric or a territorial entity. The Sarv khap panchyat is a council of different khaps in a particular area held to deliberate on some important issue. The institution covered different caste groups in the past.

Sorem in Mujaffar Nagar district of western UP, is supposed to be the headquarters of the Sarv khap panchayat since the medieval times when Haryana was a much larger entity. The records of the institution maintained by a family of this village and consulted by this writer while doing fieldwork on khap in this area, reveals that this institution encompassed different caste groups. In one of the panchayats at Shikarpur during Allaudin Khilji’s reign to oppose zazia — a tax imposed on Hindus — was attended by representatives of all castes — Jats, Gurjars, Rajputs, Raves, Sainis, Tagas, Brahmins, Banias, Dalits, etc. It maintained militia for defence in which women warriors too had their place. In another panchayat at Sorem in 1954, a Gurjar was unanimously elected as president, a Rajput as a vice-president and a Jat as its general secretary. Thus, there was no discrimination on grounds of caste or sex earlier in this institution.

Khap today is a pale replica of its past, undemocratic in its structure and functioning. Women, who constitute about half the population, have no place in it. Such panchayats often issue edicts having vital impact on lives of women but they have no right to have their say. Similarly, weaker sections are kept out of its ambit. It has no electic principle. Its headship is either hereditary or some one is asked to preside over the meeting on the spot.

It has emasculated the democratically elected panchayats in which women and weaker sections have due representation. It casts a larger than life shadow by issuing outlandish and barbaric fatwas like declaring a married couple as siblings, expelling families from their native habitats and ordering killing of couples.

Khap panchayat today has become an exclusive preserve of the Jat community. Some elements in the landed Jat peasantry try to perpetuate their hegemony in rural hinterland by using khap as a cover. The task is facilitated by the patronage extended to them by political leaders who treat them as vote bank. This nexus explains the studied silence maintained by top political leaders in Haryana on khap atrocities irrespective of the party affiliation.

The only exception is Samsher Singh Surjewala, a senior Congress leader, who has taken a forthright stand against khap. The CPM and its women wing have been consistently crusading against khaps. The fear of losing the vote bank is largely misplaced as the self-styled custodians of social mores in khaps no longer enjoy large following in villages.

Bhaichara (brotherhood) has been the raison d’etre of khap. All the khap members are supposed to be blood relations. This led to several marital taboos like ban on the same-gotra marriage, same-village marriage and marriage in the immediate neighbourhood. Inter-gotra marriage is frowned upon even if the bride is from a distant place if some families of her gotra reside in her in-laws’ village as they treat her as a daughter.

The concept of bhaichara is a myth now. Improved means of communications, transport, mass media and spread of modern education have exposed the rural youth to the outside world and have led many of them to reject the norms of tribal society. Intimacy between two sexes is quite common. So long as this relationship remains behind the scene, no body takes notice of it. When it results into marriage, this is taken as a threat to the hallowed tradition of khap and invites barbarous punishment.

These norms should have undergone some relaxation in tune with the changing times but their rigid observance at present is the root cause of the problem.

It is ignorance of the symbiotic relationship between tradition and modernity which has led to rigidity. Tradition untouched by modernity starts stinking and becomes a drag on society while modernity cut off from tradition is shallow and spurious. It is the harmonious blend of the two that takes society forward.

The Balian khap comprising 84 villages in Mujaffar Nagar district in western UP has shown some relaxation. If there are two gotras of Jats in a particular village, say Balian and Rathi, Balians can bring a Rathi bride from a distant village in the same khap and vice versa. This is an anathema to Jats of Haryana in the khap belt and this gave rise to serious problems in several villages — Meham Kheri in Rohtak district, Samaspur in Bhiwani district, Dharana in Jhajjar district, to give the latest examples.

A more disturbing dimension has been added to the phenomenon today. Some elements have an eye on the property of the family in dispute and manage order of its expulsion from the village to grab its land and house.

The observance of all marital norms of a tribal society has become impractical in modern age.

There are many villages in Haryana’s khap belt which have a plethora of Jat gotras — Samchana village has 15 gotras of Jats in it. Avoiding all these gotras in matrimonial alliance has become a nightmare. However, khap leaders cling to antiquity irrespective of the sea change in society.

Relaxed norms in the Balian Khap have made it progressive in some ways. It has thrown up a powerful peasant movement under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Tikait. Marital disputes hardly find place in the records of this khap.

As late as March 7, 2010, a Sarv khap panchayat at Shamli resolved to launch a campaign in villages to apply a curb on wasteful expenditure in marriages, community feast on the death of an elder, increasing use of liquor and other intoxicants by the youth, female foeticide, etc. Such a reformist exercise is unthinkable in Haryana’s khaps as the marital relationship is the only agenda they take up in all seriousness, perfunctory talk of other things notwithstanding.

Haryana is projected as a progressive state and rightly so. However, there is an ugly flipside too. Sex ratio in Haryana (861) is the worst along with Punjab. Even the sub-Saharan countries of Africa have a better record. To meet this deficit, girls are bought from distant places and sold in Haryana like chattel. While inter-caste and inter-religious marriage is not permissible in the khap belt — and often it leads to bloodshed — no body is bothered about the caste or religion of these hapless girls, who in some cases, are resold after the satiation of the lust of the first buyer.

Charles Darwin made an important discovery in his theory of Evolution of Species. Those species which were rigid and did not adapt themselves to changing times and were devoid of helpful attitude towards each other became extinct while their counterparts who were flexible and caring and compassionate towards each other — ‘compassion’ is the word used by Darwin — flourished. (How far compassionate are the khap stormtroopers is for readers to decide).

Similar is the fate of the hardbound khap elements. They are physically present but phenomenologically extinct. They are the deadwood who act as bottleneck for the flowering of the great potential the Jat community, especially its youth, has. The sooner the community gets rid of them, the better it
is.

Nobody can be a judge of his own cause is a universally accepted maxim. Then how are the MPs and MLAs justified in increasing their perks and allowances by themselves — and by many times. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had struck the right nail on the head while stirring up a nationwide debate on the issue by saying, “The issue of increase in salaries and allowances of MPs should be left to the public.”

The Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet has cleared a proposal seeking to increase the salaries of legislators by three times. A legislator would now get Rs 60,000 as monthly salary, that too, retrospectively from September, 2009. Besides, legislators also get Constituency Allowance of Rs 15,000 a month, telephone allowance of Rs 5000 and medical allowance of Rs 300 a month.

They are also entitled to air/railway reimbursement of Rs 50,000 every year, interest-free loans of Rs 2.5 lakh for housing and car purchase, Rs 500 per diem during the Assembly sittings, 75 per cent travelling allowance by air and Rs 9 per km on road and Rs 35 lakh as Constituency Development Fund every year. The new proposal also enhances the pension of former legislators from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000.

A Cabinet Minister would now get salary of Rs 65,000 and Chief Minster Rs 75,000 a month. The ministers already enjoy well-furnished bungalows, personal staff, security and vehicles. From costly LCDs, refrigerators, carpets, wall-paintings, electronic gadgets and opulent furniture to tubs and towels, the impeccable taste of the role-models makes the Aam Admi wonder with their extravagance and vanity.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the budget session has primarily been a cat-and-mouse game between the NC and the PDP with the unpredictable Panthers and the accidental crop of the BJP acting as fence-sitters. The burning issues regarding the headless Accountability Commission, the State Human Rights Commission and framing of the Vigilance Commission on the pattern of the Central Vigilance Commission are still hanging fire. The ration and fertilizers are not properly reaching the rural pockets. The water table has plummeted to an all-time low.

Schemes like the NREGA, the PMGSY, the NRHM, the PMRY and the ADB-funded projects have been yielding least results. However, the tech-savvy legislators seek solace by amusing public through stage-managed battles over surrender policy, self-rule, autonomy and so on. Nobody is ready to discuss the problems of roads, power supply and water, quality education, healthcare, sanitation, environment and ecology-related issues on the floor of the Assembly.

According to an independent survey by National Election Watch, every Haryana MLA adds on an average Rs 5 crore to his/her wealth during the five-year tenure. Great! At least one class in India (that of legislators) is living on the fat of saturated land. Their perks and allowances have maintained constant pace with the burgeoning fiscal deficit.

The World Bank estimates suggest that India is home to one-third of the world’s poor, with nearly 46 crore people falling within the framework of global definition of ‘poverty’. Forty-six per cent of the world’s malnourished children are Indian. According to the findings of the PM-appointed National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, 77 per cent of Indians survive and sustain on less than Rs 20 a day.

In Jammu and Kashmir, financial crunch comes in the way of release of around Rs 45 crore due to State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) employees, Rs 519 crore to power providers. ReTs are getting Rs 1500 per month, chowkidars in Panchayat Ghars are without pay, daily wagers in PDD and PHE departments get Rs 500 a month despite the government’s promise of a pay hike.

In fact, the state government is violating the Minimum Wages Act. The employees are protesting against the delay in the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. The cash-starved state has no resources and has turned to the Centre for help. Against this background, the people’s representatives’ proposal to hike their salaries and perks comes as a bolt from the blue. This reminds one of a popular Urdu quote, “Khud he mukhbir, khud hi mujrim, khud hi munsif thehre”.

Marketing of sportsKabaddi catches the attention of TV channels
by Prabhjot Singh

Pakistan and Canada in action at War Heroes Stadium, Sangrur

Since
March and April have traditionally been months for holding school, college and university examinations, hardly any international sports events were organised during this period. But things are changing now, thanks to the powerful influence of television and cable networks.

If TV could force the marathon being run in the afternoon in hot sultry weather conditions at Atlanta during the 1996 Olympic games, why cannot it get the third edition of
IPL, World Cup Hockey or for that matter inaugural World Cup Kabaddi being played in early summer months of March and April?

A scrutiny of sports calendars for next four to six years reveals that there is hardly any event billed for March and April. Someone has to fill these vacant slots for channels specialising in sports coverage.

US Masters (golf) in April and the French Open (tennis) in May are the only permanent features that get adequate TV coverage. But looking at the calendar of the National Sports Federations in India for past several years and also of next few years, there is hardly any sports activity of significance scheduled for March, April and May. The major reason, as mentioned earlier, is the examination season coupled with sizzling hot days that make at least outdoor sporting events impossible.

Conscious that without TV coverage marketing an international sporting event to a commercial success is virtually impossible, the promoters and organisers of all major competitions have to follow “diktats” of TV network and cable operators.

It goes without saying that the most powerful influence on the contemporary sports world has been of television and cable networks. What could be a better illustration than the just concluded Hero Honda World Cup Hockey tournament?

The opening day match the traditional rivals India and Pakistan had a record viewership that could be equated to that of any good one day international
(ODI) in cricket.

The International Hockey Federation claimed that the Indo-Pak match had an audience share of 8.9 on Doordarshan
(TVR = 1.8) and 1.3 on Ten Sports. By way of a benchmark, cricket’s TVR on Doordarshan for the four ODIs between India and Sri Lanka, in December 2009, ranged between 1.1 and 2.3, averaging 1.85.

Elated at the marketing and financial success of the Hero Honda World Cup, the “pleased” Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation
(FIH) Board agreed in principle to allocate one tournament for men or women every year to India for the next four years with the fond hope of attracting commercial and television interest in these events.

Commercial success of sporting events covered extensively by the television or cable networks has naturally brought additional pressure on the international and national sports federations that had earlier failed to attract TV networks. Change in rules, including kitting of players, duration of matches and scheduling of events were discreetly left at the discretion of TV channels.

No one would have imagined 25 years ago that cricket players would sport colorful flannels or use white leather ball in ODIs and T20 games. More changes have been made in rules of games at the instance of TV than those suggested by the technical experts or players of that particular sport or event. Acceptance and introduction of electronic scoreboards, TV replays and photo finish cameras and gadgets were expedited because of the demands from the TV and cable networks.

Now Kabaddi (Punjab style) is the latest on the chop board of television networks. Depending upon the viewership figures of the inaugural World Cup being organised by the Punjab government, it can usher in an era of traditional and martial sport as mainstream entertainer. It could possibly provide an alternative to the western model of WWF or its variants of show
wrestling.

Kabaddi, like cricket and hockey, has worldwide appeal, thanks to the presence of strong South Asian immigrant community in almost every nook and corner of the globe. After the International Cricket Council, now the International Hockey Federation has realised the tremendous potential this committed bank of ardent followers of these erstwhile British legacies enjoy. And Kabaddi is their own sport, for almost all South Asians, though variants, like
WWF, may need some consolidation.

Marketing of sports is still in its infancy stage in India.
Doordarshan, the national channel, had been playing a pioneer but without much success.

It was in 1982 that the Asian Games in New Delhi ushered in a new era of TV coverage of sports. Coverage of those other than international events was beyond the capacity of the national network because it had neither the expertise nor resources to give sports the much-needed marketing tool.

Cricket broke loose and roped in foreign players, including IMG and England-based networks, that had established leadership in multi-camera coverage of the gentleman’s sport.

At one stage after launching its 24-hour sports channel, Doordarshan came out with a scheme of covering all major national championships. To gain exclusive rights, it started doling out some money to the national sports federations for onward transmission to the organising units of such championships. But the scheme, especially in hockey, was abandoned shortly afterwards.

Since then, many private channels have been evincing keen interest in covering domestic as well as international sports events. Still organisers of some unknown or little known sports have either to rope in big sponsors or dole out huge amounts of money to attract TV and cable networks to cover their events. It may take a while when the gains of marketing through TV coverage would start flowing to the sports bodies in general and players in
particular.

DR Shantha Sinha played a catalytic role in formulating the Right to Education Act. As the first Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), she is all geared up to monitor its implementation on the field.

Winner of the 2003 Ramon Magsaysay award for community leadership, Dr Sinha is the founder of MV Foundation which has done pioneering work in reduction of child labour in Andhra Pradesh. She spoke to The Tribune in Hyderabad on the challenges in implementing the far-reaching legislation.

Excerpts:

Q:
What are your impressions about the Right to Education (RTE) Act? Is the Centre committed to
it?

A: I welcome the Act wholeheartedly. It makes education a fundamentalright on par with right to life. By implication, the state is violating the law if any child is out of school. It guarantees that no child is turned away for lack of documentation. The Act paves theway for bringing equity and social jus tice and enhancing the democratic texture of India’s society and polity. It puts the responsibility squarely on the government. States must come forward and take the initiative to push for changes in their jurisdiction.

Q:
Some states are expressing their inability to implement the Act citing funds
crunch.

A: The states have no option but to implement it. It is non-negotiable. In a country like ours, they are also goal-setting instruments and it is for the citizens to utilise the law to see that they get implemented, by applying pressure on the state.

Q:
What about resource crunch?

A: No question. As in all public
services, much of government spending would depend on the alertness ofcivil society and commitment of each one of us. Attitudes will have to
change. Sometimes you need a constitutional amendment to start doing that.

Q:
Will private schools earmark 25 per cent seats for the disadvantaged?

A: I do hope. Having children from
different class backgrounds would benefit all children. In closing their doors to the poor, private schools would be perpetuating inequality.

Q: What was your role in the Act’s formulation? Are you satisfied with it or suggest some
modifications?

A: I was part of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE)Sub-committee on RTE and participated in almost every meeting. It was a collective effort. I would have liked children undersix years also to be covered under the Act and also have all government schools including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and Sainik schools to be inclusive and embrace all children in the neighborhood.

Q:
What are the major hurdles?

A: The hurdles are in the elite bias that exists within society towards education of all its citizens. Unless all segments of society take it upon themselves to ensure that no child in this country is without an elementary education, the task will be slow and fraught with confrontation. The hurdles really are in the preparation of the
entire system to the task of providing right to education.

Q: When can India achieve the target of sending every child of 6-14 years to schools, particularly the girl
child?

A: Why must it take time? Our children waited far too long. Every child must be in school now.

Q:
What role do you foresee for NCPCR in the Act’s implementation?

A: The Commission will have a separate division funded by the HRD
Ministry to undertake this task. It will have a separate and dedicated set of professionals and support staff and a cell for monitoring complaints related to RTE with a special section on corporal punishment related complaints. The Act requires state-level commissions to be set up within six
months.

Padma
Bhushan Award winner Dr Ramakant Panda is known as “ the man with safest hands”. A specialist in beating heart surgery, Dr Panda has performed over 10,000 bypass surgeries and 800 redo bypass. He is regarded as one of the most prolific surgeons in the world. More importantly, he has done more than 1,500 high-risk surgeries, which have offered new life to many patients who were considered “inoperable”. His failure rate is just 0.5 per cent against the world average of 2 per cent —- in the US, the average is 2 to 3 per cent.

Dr Panda performed two heart bypass surgeries on Dr Manmohan Singh — one when he was not the Prime Minister and the second after Dr Singh began to head the UPA government. The second one — a redo bypass surgery —- was more complicated. Both were successful.

His first half a dozen cases were those of patients that nobody wanted to touch. All of them survived. Dr Panda often recalls the case of a senior IAS officer. He had a major cardiac arrest and his heart stopped beating for 20 minutes. He urgently needed angioplasty but most of the other surgeons refused to do the procedure. At that time Dr Panda had just come from the US and had no case. So, when family members of the officer asked him if he would do the surgery, Dr Panda’s reply was, “Provided you don’t sue me if anything goes wrong”. The family members agreed. The officer is still living and spending a healthy life.

One unique honour Dr Panda received was the prestigious Rashtriya Samman from the Income Tax Department, for being one of the highest tax payers between 1994-95 and 1998-99. Unlike many top doctors he refuses to be paid in cash and accepts only cheques. When his first accountant asked him, “ Doctor, what is your cash income”, Dr Panda told him he had no cash income. A surprised accountant told him — “the income tax authorities will not believe you and claim that you earn thrice as much.” Dr Panda had the last laugh when Income Tax Department honoured him.

The same integrity and zeal has gone into setting up the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai, probably India’s best heart hospital. That was Dr Panda’s dream project and he had to work very hard to raise funds for building the hospital. At the same time, his professional career also zoomed.

Young Panda used to watch with curiosity his uncle – an E&T surgeon —perform surgery. But the real inspiration to become a surgeon came from a cover page feature in LIFE magazine on Dr Denton A. Cooley, one of the all-time great surgeons, who had done the first heart transplant in America. He was the President and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Texas Heart Institute founded by him.

Born in Orissa at a place called Jajpur, Dr Panda’s parents were landowners. He spent his early childhood with his grandfather, a freedom fighter. His grandfather was the headmaster of a school and a strict disciplinarian. He loved Panda but, at the same time, he was very strict. He used to insist that Panda and his cousin, who too lived with the grandfather, washed dishes after meals. He also made them wash their clothes. The grandpa’s discipline had a tremendous influence on Panda and his cousin.

Panda was topper at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He did his postgraduation in surgery and heart surgery at AIIMS between 1980 and 1985. It was at AIIMS that the real grinding took place. He was always a hard-working student, but the actual drive to excel and do better happened at AIIMS. Those were toughest five years of his life. He often used to work for 18 hours a day.

It was at that point in time that Dr Panda decided to go abroad to get more training. During those days in India, there were only four or five hospitals doing heart surgery, and they operated as a close-knit group. Dr Panda gave two qualifying examinations for the US; it was called the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). It was getting tougher and tougher for doctors to go to the US, but he passed both examinations.

Dr Panda did his Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, US, where he was trained by the pioneer of the bypass surgery, Dr. Floyd D Loop.